City Taxis driving ahead

South Yorkshire-based taxi firm City Taxis has completed a management buyout, which marks another significant milestone in the company’s remarkable growth story.

Over the last four years City Taxis has carried out multiple strategic acquisitions across and beyond the Sheffield City Region, extending its presence now into Barnsley, Chesterfield, Derby and Rotherham.

City Taxis is one of the largest independent taxi firms in the UK and operates a fleet of 1,750 vehicles averaging over 130,000 journeys per week.

The MBO now enables certain founding shareholders to realise the value of their investment and step away from the business allowing Arnie Singh, continuing in his role as managing director, together with his team to take the company through the next stage of its development.

Arnie said: “I am very grateful to the outgoing shareholders. Without their hard work and foresight, particularly in the early days, we certainly wouldn’t be where we are today. We have invested heavily, particularly in technology through our App which is widely used by our customers. The industry is constantly evolving, and we have the foundation of a solid infrastructure with which to continue developing our product and service offering.”

Corporate finance advice for the buyout was provided by a BHP Corporate Finance team of Tim Brind and John Warner with funding for the transaction coming from Andrew Marsh, Neil Bradburne and Ben Carver at Barclays Bank. Legal advice was provided by a team led by Ben Hendry and Luke Chapman of CMS.

Tim Brind of BHP Corporate Finance said: “City Taxis is a genuine success story for the Sheffield City Region. It has been a pleasure to help and support them in making this next step and I look forward to seeing the business continue to progress.”

These comments were echoed by Neil Bradburne, Barclays Relationship Director in South Yorkshire, who said: “This deal marks a pivotal milestone in City Taxis growth aspirations and we were delighted to support Arnie with this transaction. We look forward to seeing the business go from strength to strength as Arnie and his team continue to develop new products and services and increase their customer base throughout South Yorkshire.”